Other Academic Work

Why Democracies Triumph Over Dictatorships

Original title (French): Pourquoi les démocraties triomphent des dictatures

n. p., n. d.

Written in French — title, summary and keywords translated

Keywords

  • Liberal democracy
  • Centralized dictatorship
  • Distributed innovation
  • Ukraine
  • Rule of law
  • Strategic initiative
  • Freedom of expression
  • Democratic resistance
  • Decentralization of power
  • Individual liberty

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Abstract

Benoit Frydman explains why democracies, despite their apparent fragility, ultimately triumph over authoritarian regimes. His argument relies on a structural contrast: while dictatorships concentrate all power in the will of the supreme leader, thereby stifling initiative and innovation, democracies founded on individual and associative freedoms, free enterprise, free expression, and independent scientific research allow for the emergence of distributed and competing initiatives that generate innovation, strategic adaptation, and ingenuity. Benoit Frydman illustrates this principle through historical examples (Marathon, the defeats of Nazism and Soviet communism) and the contemporary example of Ukraine, where the democratic project and adherence to the European rule of law motivate resistance better than ethnic identities.

Read the summary in the original language (French)

Benoit Frydman expose pourquoi les démocraties, malgré leur apparente fragilité, triomphent finalement des régimes autoritaires. Son argument s'appuie sur un contraste structurel : tandis que les dictatures concentrent tout pouvoir dans la volonté du chef suprême, ce qui étouffent l'initiative et l'innovation, les démocraties fondées sur les libertés individuelles et associatives, la libre entreprise, la libre expression et la recherche scientifique indépendante, laissent émerger des initiatives distribuées et concurrentes qui engendrent innovation, adaptation stratégique et ingéniosité. Frydman illustre ce principe par des exemples historiques (Marathon, les défaites du nazisme et du communisme soviétique) et par l'exemple contemporain de l'Ukraine, où le projet démocratique et l'adhésion à l'État de droit européen motivent la résistance mieux que les identités ethniques.

Themes

  • Rule of Law, Democracy & Human Rights
  • Philosophy & Theory of Law

Full text

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Cite this work

B. FRYDMAN, « Pourquoi les démocraties triomphent des dictatures ».
@article{frydman_2022_pourquoi_democraties_triomphent_dictatures,
  author = {Frydman, Benoit},
  title = {Pourquoi les démocraties triomphent des dictatures}
}
TY  - JOUR
AU  - Frydman, Benoit
TI  - Pourquoi les démocraties triomphent des dictatures
ER  -

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